1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for recharging a cleaning robot, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for ensuring a cleaning robot to return to a charge station.
The present invention has been produced from the work supported by the IT R&D program of MIC (Ministry of Information and Communication)/IITA (Institute for Information Technology Advancement) [2005-S-026-02, Development of Embedded Software Platform and Middleware for URC] in Korea.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Generally, a cleaning robot is equipped with a rechargeable battery to automatically make a round in an interior space to clean the interior space. The cleaning robot equipped with the rechargeable battery performs a cleaning operation by automatically making the round in the interior space, and checks a voltage level of the battery by measuring the voltage of the battery to determine a battery recharge time at predetermined time intervals. When the battery recharge time is detected, the robot should return to a charge station, positioned at one corner of the interior, to automatically recharge the battery.
When the voltage of the battery becomes lower than a certain level, a conventional cleaning robot stops a cleaning operation and moves to the charge station by recognizing robot position information and charger position information stored in a controller. However, when a recharge time of the cleaning robot is determined using the battery voltage only, there is no problem when a distance between the cleaning robot and the charge station is short; whereas if the station is too far away, the battery may be fully exhausted while returning to the charge station so that the cleaning robot stops before arriving at the charge station. In addition, when a bottom surface of the interior in which the cleaning robot moves is too slippery to perform the cleaning operation, the battery of the cleaning robot may be exhausted to make it impossible to return to the charge station and perform the cleaning operation, thereby causing inconvenience to a user.